Between The Lines
by AussieEllie
Summary: If life is but a musical, you have to read between the lines. A series of HSM3 missing moments, written for the ZA Angels Write-Off Challenge: Ellie’s Theme. Sixth Moment: Telephone Trouble
1. Game On

**Title: **Between The Lines

**Summary: **If life is but a musical, you have to read between the lines. A series of HSM3 missing moments, written for the ZA Angels Write-Off Challenge: Ellie's Theme

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** If I owned High School Musical, I wouldn't have set the Australian release date _six whole weeks_ after the US release date…*cries at the unfairness of it all*

**A/N: **Since I set this challenge, it's only fair I participate in it! As I'm not eligible to win the write-off anyway, I'm going to write this as a series of one-shots, since there are so many deliciously empty spaces to be filled in HSM 3! And before anyone asks, yes, I _technically _should not have seen the movie yet since I still _officially_ have three weeks till it is released here Down Under…lets just leave it at me being a little bit sneaky and entirely impatient, ok? *furtive grin* Updates should be fairly frequent, even though I am juggling this with another full-length story in the Twilight fandom…and reviews are very much wanted and appreciated!

**Dedication:** For Kylie, Dani and Karen…Thank you for making the trip to the HSM 3 Premiere in Sydney one of the best days of my life (of course, on the day you rank behind seeing/photographing/obtaining the autographs of Zac/Vanessa/Ashley/Kenny, but I know you won't hold that against me!)

* * *

_Game On_

* * *

Troy sat motionless on the wooden bench, head cradled between his hands as the excited voices of his team-mates washed over him in a swirl of sound. Beyond them, the boisterous shouts of the gathering crowd in the gym, Wildcat and Knights fans alike, echoed down the white-washed corridor. This time last year, Troy had been filled with anticipation; for the game, for the audition, for maybe finally screwing up the courage to ask Gabriella to be more than just his friend but this year that anticipation had twisted into anxiety. He stretched out his right leg, wincing slightly as his strained calf muscle protested the action. That diving pass might have saved the game in their regional final but it had come at a price…one that might become higher if his leg gave out during this match.

He feared, more than anything, about letting down the guys, about letting down his father. He knew he wasn't the only person on the team but he was the captain, the playmaker, even if he sometimes wished he wasn't. No matter how much he tried to feel excited, tried to just bask in the knowledge that they'd made the championship game again, the anxiety didn't fade. He thought he'd done an admirable job of hiding it from everyone though, not willing to show weakness when everyone was counting on him to be strong. It didn't help either that his mind was also preoccupied with other concerns…mostly all centering around one gorgeous brunette who was never far from his thoughts.

He could still remember the joy shining in her eyes when she'd come barrelling through his front door, an acceptance letter from Stanford clutched in her grasp. It was something she had dreamed of her whole life and he couldn't be more proud of her, of her achievements. Gabriella was someone who had always been destined to shine and he would never stand in the way of that…but he couldn't help the spike of pain that lanced through him at the thought of being separated from her, of having over a thousand miles of land between them. The past year had seemed to be one long dream, everyday spent with her better than the last and though he would never admit it to anyone, occasionally thoughts of the future had filtered into his mind. Of apartments shared and holidays taken. Of matching rings and veils of lace. Of warm brandy eyes set into tiny chubby faces. He knew thoughts like that were meant to be the realm of females, but he couldn't help it. Since that fateful New Year's Eve, any serious thoughts as to the path ahead always had Gabriella placed firmly front and centre.

"Hoops, you alright man?"

Chad slapped him across the shoulder, making Troy jump with surprise. His best friend had excitement shining in his eyes, a basketball spinning effortlessly on his fingertip as he stretched out on the bench beside Troy. Ever since they had made their way into the championship game again with the chance to win back-to-back trophies, Chad had been living in an almost constant state of euphoria. It also didn't hurt that scouts for the Redhawks had decided that he was just as valuable a player to potentially extend a scholarship too as Troy, something he'd been boasting about practically non-stop ever since.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just planning out some last minute tactics for the game."

The lie came easily; making Troy feel completely uncomfortable at the ease with which he was deceiving his best friend but he couldn't, wouldn't, tell him the truth. Chad may have been friends with Gabriella, but he was an easy-going guy and had never really understood how Troy could be so serious about a girl that he was probably going to be separated from after high school anyway (Chad's opinion, not his).

"We going left again, Cap'n, or have you come up with something new?"

Thankful for the distraction, Troy lost himself in a conversation of set plays and defense zones, trying to come up with the best possible game plan that would not end with him collapsing in a pained heap on the court. A few other seniors on the team huddled around to add their opinions in, while even some of the sophomore benchwarmers had some worthwhile tactical contributions, especially the lanky Jimmie Zara. Despite his cockiness, Troy could see that the kid had a good tactical brain if he decided to use it. He wouldn't be surprised if he became Wildcat captain sometime in the future…

"So Chad, my man, I noticed that you like to bounce pass a lot…you might want to change it up a little bit for this match," Jimmie said with a grin, hanging his arm around Chad's shoulder, much to the vice-captain's displeasure.

…That's if he lived long enough, of course.

"I'll keep that in mind," Chad said stiltedly, rolling his eyes in Troy's direction as he ducked away from Jimmie's arm, shooting a glare in Zeke and Jason's direction as they smothered chuckles behind their hands.

"Is this a private conversation or can anyone join?"

A slow smile spread across Troy's lips at the familiar sweet voice, head turning to see Gabriella leaning against the metal doorway, her thick curls cascading down around her face to rest on the fitted white sundress which showed off her tan skin to perfection. If there was one thing Troy loved about the more confident girl Gabriella had become since moving to Albuquerque, it was her evolving fashion sense…sure, she had looked beautiful before but the more closely fitting (and sometimes revealing) clothes she had started to wear had played havoc with his raging hormones more than once. In his opinion, his girlfriend was hands down the prettiest girl at East High…and where that thought would once have only brought him pleasure, now it was tinged with that ever present ache at the separation looming on the horizon.

"Hey Gabs, how's the crowd out there?"

She smiled at Chad's question, acknowledging the greeting of the other team members with a nod but keeping her eyes firmly locked on Troy, who could see concern in their depths, at odds with the light tone she replied in

"Very loud," she giggled, "And waiting to see you all kick some West High butt."

"We'll aim to please," Zeke replied, high-fiving the guys around him.

"I'm sure you will. Now, if it's not too much trouble, can I steal your captain for a few minutes? I promise to return him in the same condition before the game starts," she said with fake solemnity, hand on her heart.

"I think we can spare him," Chad smirked as Troy stood up, slinging an arm around Gabriella's shoulders as he steered her into the empty bay of gym lockers down the hall for privacy. Sitting down on the bench, he tugged her down next to him, her head automatically coming to rest on his shoulder.

"So," he said for lack of anything else to say, realising that he hadn't said anything since she'd appeared in the locker room, "Did you drag me away to have you wicked way with me or…"

Troy trailed off as she smacked his arm, another light giggle escaping Gabriella's lips.

"Is that all you think about Wildcat?"

He cocked his head to the side, pretending to give her question some serious thought.

"No…I also think about _me _having my wicked way with _you_," he grinned, waggling his eyebrows with cheesy innuendo.

Gabriella effected a look of mock-affrontedness, before dissolving into laughter at the expression on her boyfriend's face. She became serious all too soon though, the concern Troy had seen in her eyes springing to the fore.

"Actually, I came to see how you were Wildcat," she said softly, ruffling the messy strands of hair by his ear.

"Me? I'm fine, why wouldn't I be," Troy said in one breath, "A little anxious to get the game underway but apart from that…"

His automatic denial faded away as she fixed him with a familiar look, one that said 'I know you're lying, so don't even try'.

Troy sighed, shifting so that his head was now resting on her shoulder, letting her hand stroke soothingly through his hair. He should have known that she would never be satisfied with a simple assertion of his well-being…after all, this was the girl who he'd confided stuff too that he would never have told anyone else. At times, it felt like she knew him better than he did.

"I'm…afraid I guess," he began hesitantly, before the rest came spilling out in a torrent, "The guys are relying on me to play a good game but my leg hurts more than I have let anyone know and I'm worried that I'm going to let them down, let the school down."

He left out his worries about her…this was not the time or the place to have a serious discussion about the future.

Relative silence reigned for a moments, punctuated only by the rising noise of the crowd and an enthusiastic shout that sounded suspiciously like Chad.

"You won't," Gabriella finally said firmly, "You won't let the team down, you won't let anyone down."

"How can you know that?" Troy asked, "Unless you added fortune-teller to your repertoire of skills when I wasn't paying attention."

"I know because you're you," she replied just as confidently, hand stilling in his hair, "Because once you hit that court, you'll play as hard as you can, no matter what pain you might feel."

She lifted his head up, eyes looking deep into his with all of the confidence, all of the pride she felt for him clearly on display.

"You are going to go out there and play the best game possible…and if you feel like you need some extra strength, I'll be in the crowd, sending all mine to you."

The vehemence with which she professed her faith in him brought a smile to his face, somehow, she always knew the right thing to say.

Leaning forward, he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, to her nose then finally her lips before pulling back, their heads resting together.

"Thank you," he said simply.

"For what?" she asked as he brushed a stray curl behind her ear, careful not to dislodge the small flower nestled in the brunette locks.

"For being you."

"You should really thank my parents for that," she teased softly, a small blush staining her cheeks at his sincerity.

"Remind me to bring your mom a bunch of flowers next time I come over then."

Gabriella rolled her eyes.

"Like you need to suck up to her anymore, you've had her eating out of the palm of your hand ever since you told her that her brownies were the best thing you had ever tasted."

"It's not sucking up if it's a lie," he shot back with a grin, his heart already feeling lighter and the anxiety draining away to be replaced by a fierce determination to prove Gabriella's faith in him wasn't false.

"Troy! Coach wants to talk to us!"

"So pry yourself away from your girlfriend and get back here, pronto!"

Zeke and Chad's shouts from down the hall made Troy shake his head at his friend's antics.

"You have a game to go win," Gabriella grinned, standing up, "And I have a crowd to fight through to get back to my seat."

He caught her wrist before she could leave.

"A kiss for good luck?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck, placing a languid kiss against his open lips.

"Go get em Wildcat," she whispered before slipping out the doorway, leaving one happy Wildcat captain to smirk with satisfaction as he rejoined his team-mates.

Troy might still feel anxiety of what was to come over the next month or so, but for now, he had a basketball team to lead and a trophy to collect, sore leg be damned.

Game on.


	2. Mother Knows Best

**Title: **Between The Lines

**Summary: **If life is but a musical, you have to read between the lines. A series of HSM3 missing moments, written for the ZA Angels Write-Off Challenge: Ellie's Theme

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** If I owned High School Musical, I wouldn't have set the Australian release date _six whole weeks_ after the US release date…*cries at the unfairness of it all*

**A/N: **I told you updates would be fairly frequent, didn't I? *grin* I seem to be on an extended writing kick, so as well as this second missing moment, you're also getting an _Interludes_ update later today, how about that!

**Dedication:** For my own mum, who is so totally awesome in too many ways to count!

* * *

_Mother Knows Best_

* * *

Lucille Bolton held up the suit bag in her hand, eyes fixed on but not really seeing the smooth black material. It seemed like only yesterday that she was buying her son robots and plush basketballs and now she was hiring him tuxes and ordering corsages. The years had flown by and she wasn't afraid to admit that she didn't know if she was ready to let him go. When she'd believed that he was going to without a doubt attend the University of Albuquerque, any sense of oncoming separation anxiety had been dulled by the thought that he'd be living within a 20 mile radius. Now though, she knew that he was torn by the opportunities offered to him by other schools, some several states away, others on the other side of the country all together, and it was a distinct possibility that he would accept one of their offers. She wouldn't say anything about her anxiety though. Her son deserved to have the best education possible, and if that meant she'd have to say goodbye to him a little sooner than she'd expected, then that's what she would do.

Her musings were broken by the sound of heavy footsteps and she turned to see her son's best friend walk slowly into the kitchen, something obviously weighing heavily on his mind. Chad was such a regular fixture at their house that he was practically her second son and she felt as protective of him as she did of Troy.

"I thought you and Troy were going out to practice?" she asked, hooking the suit bag over her arm.

"I don't think Troy wants to do much of anything at the moment Mrs Bolton," he paused, looking like there was something else he wanted to say but not knowing how. She knew that he could come across as a little light-hearted and frivolous, but he and Troy were like brothers and he always had his back.

"Does it have something to do with the phone call he just got from Gabriella?" she asked perceptively, seeing Chad nod once in the affirmative. If there was one thing that could make her son drop everything else, it was his brunette girlfriend.

"I'm going to go. Tell Troy that I'll see him tomorrow," he said a little awkwardly, picking up the drink that he'd left on the counter to follow Troy up the stairs, "And thanks for drink Mrs Bolton."

"Don't mention it, you know you're welcome to anything in the house."

She watched Chad leave before turning to stare at the ceiling. She'd gotten a bad feeling when her son's happy tone had changed after picking up the phone but she'd hoped that it hadn't been anything serious. In the year that her son had known Gabriella, she'd watched him fall in love with her to the point that Lucille couldn't see Troy ever settling for anyone else. She knew that they were young, but she'd fallen in love with Jack during high school and it wasn't something that had ever faded, so she had no reason to expect that Troy should feel any differently.

Preparing a plate of cookies and a glass of milk, she carried them and the suit bag up the stairs, coming to a stop at the open doorway to Troy's bedroom. He was sprawled across the bed on his stomach, gaze fixated on the picture frame sitting on his bedside table. Photos of Gabriella had quickly taken pride of place on almost every flat surface in his room since they'd become more than friends, something that she knew his friends teased him jokingly about to no end. He had never seemed bothered by that though, just smiling serenely and shooting back that they were jealous that he woke up every morning surrounded by a beautiful girl.

Hanging the suit bag on the back of his door, she placed the plate and glass on his desk and sat down beside him on the bed, waiting for him to acknowledge her presence. Her eyes skipped over his room to see his phone sitting carelessly on the floor, where it looked like it had been thrown. That was not a good sign.

"She's not coming back."

The statement was simple but Lucille knew her son well enough to hear the pain behind the words. He hadn't moved on the bed, his eyes still lingering on the picture frame.

"For prom?" she asked gently, resting her hand on his back. That would explain his unhappiness, she knew that he'd been looking forward to seeing Gabriella again after 2 weeks of separation.

"For anything. She's not coming back to Albuquerque, period."

She wasn't what? That didn't sound like her son's girlfriend.

"Are you sure?" she couldn't help but ask, maybe they'd had a fight and Troy was blowing things out of proportion.

"I'm sure Mom," he replied with a sigh, sitting up to look her in the eye and she could see a faint sheen of tears coating the bright blue orbs, "She said that she loved me but that she couldn't say goodbye again so she's staying in California."

Actually, that did sound like a plausible thing for Gabriella to think. She knew from Carmen that Gabriella was missing Troy and East High terribly, but she could imagine how hard it would be for her to come back for a day then leave again, then come back for another day and then leave for good. Then again, she also felt a slightly irrational spike of anger for the pain Gabriella had inadvertently caused her son, no matter the love she had professed.

"Oh, honey I'm sorry," she said, wrapping her arm around his shoulders. He leant his head against her and Lucille was reminded of the times she'd sit with him like this when he was little, after a bad dream or the one time he'd come home in tears after little Melissa Cameron had told him she wouldn't go out with him if he was the last boy on earth.

"Do you know what the worse part is?" he asked softly, absentmindedly spinning his championship ring around his finger, "I was going to tell her at prom that I'd made my choice as to which college to attend."

That made Lucille blink in surprise. Hadn't she only just been thinking about how he'd still been in turmoil over where to go for college?

"I didn't know you'd made a decision," she said softly, pushing down the rising anxiety that if he'd been so eager to tell his girlfriend that his decision was probably not going to be to stay in Albuquerque.

"I wanted to tell Gabriella first before I told you and Dad, but I guess that's moot now," he took in a deep breath, "I couldn't choose between basketball and theatre, I love both of them too much...and more than that, I love Gabriella and the thought of being at college a thousand miles away from her was too painful."

"So…" Lucille prompted.

"So…Berkeley offered me a basketball scholarship that I could take and study theatre at the same time," he rushed out in one breath, "And it's less than 33 miles from Stanford."

He looked at her nervously out the corner of his eye, obviously waiting for her reaction.

California. Her baby boy wanted to go to college in California. She knew this might happen, knew that from the way her son's eyes sparkled when he looked at his girlfriend that attending a school away from her wasn't ever really going to be an option he could consider anymore.

"Mom?" he asked, waving his hand in front of her face when she didn't respond.

There were a thousand things she could say, but only one came to mind at that particular moment.

"I'm proud of you," she said with a smile, hugging him tightly till he pretended to cough from being squashed.

"You're not mad that I don't want to go to school here?" he asked warily, obviously having expected a different reaction.

"No sweetie, I'm not mad. A little upset maybe that I'll have to say goodbye to you sooner than I thought, but I suppose I'm not really surprised."

At her son's incredulous look, she knew she had to explain further.

"Troy, I watch you with Gabriella. You look at her like she's the only person on the planet and you've never been as happy as you've been the past year since she came into your life. To be truthful, I started imagining grandkids with curly brown hair and blue eyes from the first time you introduced her as your girlfriend, so hearing that you decided to follow your heart, to choose her, is not that big of a surprise."

By the end of her explanation, her son's face had lit up in a brilliant smile, and this time he hugged her with relish.

"Thanks Mom."

"You're welcome," she pulled back and smoothed out his hair, "Just pay me back by making sure those grandkids don't come into existence for a few years yet, I'm too young and pretty to be a grandmother."

"I'm sure that can be arranged," he laughed before a frown tugged at his features again.

He looked down at his hands for a moment, lost in thought before looking at her again, a puppy dog expression set firmly on his face. It was the same look she'd seen a hundred times before, preceding either a ridiculous request (Mom, can Chad and I jump out of the treehouse onto that pile of leaves?) or succeeding some activity he had done behind her back (Mom, you didn't really like that vase in the hallway did you?).

"Mom…" he began and she could see that he was turning on the charm full blast, the easy smile that had all the girls at school falling over their feet for him, "I know that I can't convince Gabriella to come back for prom but maybe I could take prom to her…"

Lucille raised a questioning eyebrow.

"And this would be accomplished by…"

A sheepish smile crossed his face as he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, a familiar sign that he was nervous.

"By driving to California, putting on my tux and surprising her at school?" his voice rising to turn the statement into a question by its end, "After all, you'd hate that corsage to go to waste, wouldn't you?"

Lucille bit her lip at the hopeful expression on his face. While part of her was definitely uneasy about giving him permission to not only skip a few days of school but also to drive alone across several states in a truck that broke down more often than it ran, she couldn't bring herself to say no.

"I think," she began slowly.

"Yes?" he prompted eagerly, anxiety clear in his eyes.

"That your father could take some lessons from you on romantic gestures."

He blinked, processing that for a second before comprehension dawned.

"That's a yes?"

Lucille smiled at his obvious excitement, secure in the knowledge that she'd made the right choice.

"That's a yes, honey. Go get your girl."

For the second time that day, Lucille found herself crushed in her son's enthusiastic embrace.

"Thanks Mom, I love you."

"I love you too," she replied, fighting down tears of pride at the thoughtful, romantic man her son was growing up to be.

Suddenly, losing him to the inevitable pull of the future didn't seem quite so bad.


	3. Follow Your Heart

**Title: **Between The Lines

**Summary: **If life is but a musical, you have to read between the lines. A series of HSM3 missing moments, written for the ZA Angels Write-Off Challenge: Ellie's Theme

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** If I owned High School Musical, I wouldn't have set the Australian release date _six whole weeks_ after the US release date…*cries at the unfairness of it all*

**A/N: **Alright, so I went back and forth on whether or not to post this as one rather long one-shot or split it up into three smaller ones, but for ease of reading (and because it means you get this first one faster), I decided to do the latter. So here's part one of Troy and Gabi's Stanford Adventure! Oh, and I did consider upping the rating for this one, but decided to leave the story at a level that it could conceivably be in the movie. If anyone wants me to write the extended M-rated version of the end of this, review away and ask me!

**Dedication:** For Zac and Vanessa, without whom we wouldn't have these wonderful characters to play with and for Kylie, who kindly read over this for me when I had an attack of insecurity!

* * *

_Follow Your Heart_

* * *

"You might be ready to say goodbye to East High, but East High's not ready to say goodbye to you."

Gabriella's eyes briefly fluttered close as Troy's warm fingertips caressed her forehead, before she stared back at him with uncertainty and turmoil shining clear. She knew what he meant, what he was trying to convince her to do but she still wasn't sure she was strong enough to do it. Although most of her was lost in a swirl of amazement and happiness that he'd driven all the way to California for her, there was a small part that was angry. Angry that by doing this he had just created more goodbyes, more opportunities for heartache.

"Can we…not talk about this yet?" she asked softly, "I just want to enjoy being with you for awhile."

Troy looked like he wanted to push the issue, but nodded anyway, holding out his hand to grasp hers.

"So what next Miss Montez?" he asked with a grin, obviously trying to lighten the mood.

"Well, I was about to head the library," Gabriella began teasingly as she caught the look of distaste which crossed her boyfriend's face, "But I suppose that can wait. How about you, me and a plate of brownies at my new house, Mom baked a whole batch yesterday."

His eyes lit up and tugging on her hand, he practically pulled her back they way they'd come.

"So that's why you drove all the way here, for my Mom's brownies," she commented with a laugh as he hastily retrieved her bike from the stand, not even caring when the tyre rubbed a long dirt stain on his perfectly pressed black slacks.

"Of course, why did you think I came? For you?" he shot back as together they navigated their way around milling students to reach his truck.

"I'm surprised you managed to get here at all. The last time I saw this old thing was when you had to get it towed from the front of my house."

She ran her hand over the side panel, grinning at Troy's spluttered indignation.

"Old thing? She is not an 'old thing', she's a work of beauty," he exclaimed as he hefted her bike up onto the flatbed.

"Mmm-hmm, and how many times did this beauty break down on the way here?" Gabriella asked slyly, waiting patiently at the passenger door because she knew Troy liked to exercise his chivalric ways and open it for her.

"Twice, but that's beside the point."

"Whatever you say Wildcat," she said with exaggerated patience as she slipped into her seat, patting him condescendingly on the arm as he clambered into the driver's side and promptly had to turn the ignition 4 times before the truck roared to life with a rattle.

One short ride later, during which Troy regaled her with the tale of Sharpay's unfortunate dress rehearsal wardrobe malfunction and the subsequent on-stage chaos, they pulled up outside a modest two-storey home just a mile or so out from the edge of the campus.

Gabriella didn't know why they even needed a house with two storeys considering that she'd be living on campus once freshmen year proper started in the fall, but her Mom had simply said that she liked her space and wanted enough room for Gabriella when she came home to visit.

"What are you smiling at?" she asked Troy puzzled, as they walked through the back gate, a wide grin on his face.

"You have a tree," he said simply, pointing at the large oak whose branches overhung the small balcony connected to the room which Gabriella had claimed as her own. She wasn't about to admit it, but when her Mom had shown her pictures of the few houses she was deciding between, she'd immediately picked out this one for the irrational urge to have something that reminded her of Albuquerque.

She knew she had started to blush when she ducked her head, "Yeah, I suppose I hoped that one day you might miraculously appear in it," she looked up at him through her lashes, "As it turns out, right fantasy, wrong tree."

He laughed out loud as she unlocked the back door, leading him inside the large kitchen where he made a beeline for the refrigerator, pulling out a covered plate of brownies with an exclamation of victory as he bit into one with relish.

She giggled, "Just go right ahead and make yourself at home there."

"Fanks, I will," he mumbled around a mouthful of chocolaty goodness, groaning in frustration as he accidentally dropped some on his pristine white shirt and the black lapel of his tuxedo jacket.

Gabriella shook her head, wetting a cloth and crossing the room to gently dab at the dark brown stain.

"You're hopeless Wildcat," she commented as the chocolate remained stubbornly stuck to his shirt, "Come on, I'll have to put this in the wash if you want to return it in the same condition you hired it in and I have a shirt of yours you can wear in the meantime."

The last part of her sentence slipped out without her thinking and her startled eyes flew up to meet her boyfriend's rather amused ones.

"Um, I mean…"

"You have one of my shirts?" he asked softly, tucking a stray curl back behind her ear.

"Yeah," she admitted, turning an even brighter red than before, "I kind of…stole it from your room."

He chuckled, kissing her on the forehead.

"Thanks for the offer, but I did bring a duffel bag with a couple changes of clothes with me."

"Right," she stuttered as he slipped out of the jacket and shirt, handing them over to her as she tried in vain not to stare at the exposed planes of his gorgeous torso, "I'll just…take these to the laundry then."

She practically ran from the room, not stopping till she was safely ensconced in the laundry room with flushed cheeks, only some of which was from embarrassment. She didn't know what was wrong with her, its not like she'd never seen him without a shirt a before.

'_But you've never seen him without a shirt after he pulled off a grand romantic gesture which reminded you exactly how much you've fallen in love with him,'_ her mind whispered.

Shaking her head, she concentrated on the washing machine and the conversation she knew was inevitable. Would she go back to East High with him, like she knew he wanted? And if she did, what would happen after graduation day? They'd end up right back in the same dilemma, having to say goodbye and living with 1000 miles of land separating them. It had been hard enough to leave when she'd thought that she would go back and see him again in two weeks time, what would happen when it was a more permanent separation? She hadn't been lying when she'd told him that heart didn't know it was in high school. It seemed bound and determined to stay stubbornly, head over heels in love, no matter what her head protested (you're only teenagers, you can't be this serious about him yet, its just going to end in heartache for you and with him finding some gorgeous, athletic blonde who wouldn't put her education first).

Knowing that she was procrastinating, she took a deep breath and climbed the stairs, stopping outside her bedroom door to see Troy sitting on the bed, the picture frame she knew had been sitting on the bedside table cradled in his hands. It had been taken during their summer at Lava Springs and it was one of her favourite photos for the fact that the two of them were totally oblivious to the camera, staring into each other's eyes so intensely that the world could of exploded around them and they wouldn't have noticed.

"I thought that the first time I'd hear you say you loved me, would be one of the happiest moments of my life. Instead, it hurt, it _ached_ like nothing I've ever experienced."

His voice was quiet, his eyes still firmly glued to the picture, "Because even though you said it, you were also in a way giving up on us, letting our relationship go without a fight."

He looked up at her then and Gabriella was pinned by the intensity of his gaze, emotions swirling like a storm in those beautiful blue eyes.

"If you hadn't hung up on me, I would've told you that I love you too, that I have ever since that snowy New Year's Eve. I would've told you that I'd decided that I couldn't let you go, not now, not ever. I would've told you that I'd made a choice to follow my heart above all else."

He fell silent and Gabriella felt compelled to speak, a spark of hope flaring at his words, flamed by the fan of happiness at the declaration of his feelings for her. Any of the anger she had originally felt had long since drained away, unable to compete in the face of his heartfelt honesty.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, crossing the few feet of carpet to sink down beside him on the bed, hands folded nervously in her lap, "I'm listening now."

He turned to her, grasping a hold of her hands and intertwining their fingers together.

"I know we're young. I know that a lot of people would say that we're too young to feel this intensely but apparently my heart doesn't listen any better than yours does."

He gave her a nervous smile, squeezing her fingers gently in a way that seemed more like he was making sure she was actually here listening than any sense of providing her reassurance.

"Which is why I decided to turn down U of A's scholarship to accept an offer from Berkeley."

Gabriella blinked, letting his words sink in to her brain, the implications making her heart pound.

"Berkeley? As in University of California Berkeley? As in just up the coast Berkeley?"

She knew her voice had become little more than a high-pitched squeak by sentence's end but she felt like she'd lost control, the hope now fully fledged and engulfing.

"No, down in Antarctica Berkeley," he said sarcastically before his face softened into a smile, "They offered me a basketball scholarship I can take and study theatre at the same time. This way, I don't have to sacrifice one of the three things I love for another."

Gabriella was speechless, so overwhelmed that while she'd been cowardly, not wanting to deal with the issue of their separation, that he'd taken the initiative and made sure it wouldn't ever really be an issue.

"Gabriella?" he prompted warily, when she hadn't responded but Troy soon found himself with an armful of sobbing brunette as she practically threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I love you," she whispered against his neck, sighing as he brought his arms up around her to cradle her tight.

"I love you too."

Relinquishing her hold on his neck, she retreated far enough to bring his handsome features into view, stroking one hand through his hair before leaning forward to capture his lips with hers, pouring everything she felt for him into that single kiss.

"Does this mean you'll come back with me to Albuquerque for the show in two days time?" he asked when she finally pulled back, her forehead resting gently against hers.

She bit her lip, considering. Now that she knew that she wouldn't have to say goodbye to him, a large part of her wanted nothing more than to see her friends one more time, to share one last high school experience.

"On one condition," she said firmly, giggling as he nuzzled his nose against hers.

"Name it."

"If your truck breaks down, you're the one who'll push it all the way to Albuquerque."


	4. Letting Go

**Title: **Between The Lines

**Summary: **If life is but a musical, you have to read between the lines. A series of HSM3 missing moments, written for the ZA Angels Write-Off Challenge: Ellie's Theme

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** If I owned High School Musical, I wouldn't have set the Australian release date _six whole weeks_ after the US release date…*cries at the unfairness of it all*

**A/N: **Here's part 2 of Troy and Gabi's Stanford Adventure! For those that asked for the M-rated extension of part 1, it has been posted as the latest _Interludes_ one-shot, the link to which can be found on my profile (the subject of that extension is discussed here, but if that kind of thing is not your cup of tea, all you need to know is that Troy and Gabriella made love for the first time). Thank you everyone for all of your reviews so far, they've made me smile so much! Oh, and one line from this is um 'borrowed' from a Buffy episode and the first person to who can tell me which one and who said it will have the next moment dedicated to them!

**Dedication:** For _hsmcrazy_, you know why…and I hope you love this one just as much as the last!

* * *

_Letting Go_

* * *

The sun shone bright through the hazy clouds, casting a blanket of warmth over the early hours of a Friday morning, illuminating still-sleeping households and quiet streets. For most people, the day hadn't even begun but for Carmen Montez, it had already included an early morning wake-up call, breakfast and a 40 minute drive down the coast from San Francisco. She had left early, ostensibly to beat the inevitable morning rush hour traffic jam but largely because she didn't want to be away from Gabriella any longer than she had to, especially with how depressed she'd seemed lately. After learning that her daughter had decided against going back to Albuquerque for Prom, she had tried to shift her work trip to the next week so she could be with Gabi yesterday, but to no avail given the short notice.

As she turned onto their new home street, she thought back to when Gabriella had told her that she'd cancelled her flight back east, and wouldn't be returning to East High for Prom or Graduation. The decision had surprised Carmen, given that Gabriella had spent the two weeks prior in a melancholy mood, missing her friends and her boyfriend more than she would admit. Though she had a rather good relationship with her daughter, any attempts to discuss the reason behind her change of mind had been rebuffed and she'd left for San Francisco yesterday morning still more worried than not.

Sighing, she pulled into the driveway, not bothering to park in the garage given that she would probably have to run a few errands later on in the day. Stepping out into the sunshine and stretching out her slightly cramped legs, she let her eyes roam across the front yard, taking in the newly blooming flowers, Troy's white truck pulled up to the kerb, the junk mail hanging out of the mailbox…hang on a minute. Her eyes slid back to the street, focusing on the vehicle she had somehow missed in her drive up the road. It was definitely her daughter's boyfriend's truck with, she noted, a very familiar bicycle laying in the flatbed. All sorts of scenarios popped into her head, many of them centering around the fact that if Troy had arrived here yesterday then he and Gabriella would have been alone…all night.

Forcing herself not to jump to conclusions and restraining the urge to run into the house, she grabbed the junk mail before heading inside, taking note of the half eaten plate of brownies on the kitchen counter and the utter silence which permeated the house. With an increasingly queasy feeling in her stomach, she quietly made her way up the stairs. She could see from the landing that her daughter's bedroom door was open and taking a deep breath, she took the last few steps, coming to a complete halt in the doorway.

So much for not jumping to conclusions. Troy and Gabriella were spooned together underneath twisted sheets, their bodies pressed so close that Carmen had trouble telling where one ended and the other began. Thankfully, her daughter was wearing a shirt but it was easy to see that it was not hers, the fabric dwarfing her petite frame and her boyfriend conspicuously bare-chested. Though it was not glaringly evident that the two had been doing any more than sleeping in the bed, something about their closeness, about the way Troy's head was nuzzled against Gabriella's neck, his arms wrapped tight around her left no doubt in her mind as to their previous activities.

Part of Carmen wanted to shout, to wake them up and ask her daughter what the hell she had been thinking, to kick Troy out of the house and tell him to never come near Gabriella again. Part of her also wanted to cry, to hold Gabi close and make sure she was ok, to ask whether or not her daughter's first time was as special as her own had been. Part of her felt sadness, recognising that her little girl had grown up a long time ago and that she was slowly slipping away into full-blown adulthood and the last part of her? The last part couldn't help but sigh at the picture of contentment the two made, acknowledging the already suspected truth that her daughter had already found the one person who she wanted to spend her life with, just as Carmen had with Gabriella's father so very long ago.

A slight rustling broke into her thoughts and she re-focused on the bed to see Troy's eyes blink open sleepily. He hadn't noticed her yet and Carmen felt an ache in her heart as he looked down at Gabi with such an expression of love, wonder and awe on his face, like her daughter was the most precious, beautiful thing in the world. Well, she couldn't fault him for that.

Knocking lightly on the doorframe, she hid a smile as his eyes flew upwards, first registering shock, then embarrassment, then settling into anxious apprehension, apparently waiting for to yell and order him from the room. Instead, she merely crooked her finger in invitation, turning to head down to the kitchen for a little one-to-one chat with the blue-eyed boy who'd stolen her daughter's heart.

She didn't have long to wait, just stirring some sugar into her coffee when Troy appeared, at least having had the common sense to pull on sweatpants and a t-shirt. He stopped by the counter, hand rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Ms Montez, I…"

"Breakfast?"

He blinked at the non sequitur, mouth snapping shut.

"I'm sorry?" he questioned and Carmen felt a small sense of satisfaction at his uneasiness.

"Would you like some breakfast?" she repeated, "We have cereal in the pantry or toast."

His eyes flickered, obviously deciding whether or not the offer was legitimate or a sneaky plan to poison him, before he shook his head.

"I'm fine for the moment, thank you."

Silence settled over the kitchen for a moment, before Carmen set down her mug and fixed her gaze squarely on his fidgeting form, deciding to start off on him easy.

"Why are you here? Weren't you supposed to be attending Prom last night?"

To his credit, Troy maintained eye contact even under her piercing stare.

"My Prom was wherever Gabriella was," he said simply, "And I had some news to tell her that I couldn't just say over the phone."

"And that news would be?" she asked with an eyebrow raised, wondering what was so important that he'd come all the way out to California to say it.

"That I've decided to attend Berkeley in the fall."

Carmen stayed silent, digesting the news and eyeing her daughter's boyfriend in a new light. She knew from Lucille that Troy's father and friends were all expecting him to attend U of A, and she couldn't help but be impressed by the courage he was showing in following his heart instead. Of course, that didn't mean she had to let him get away from this conversation scot-free.

"I see, and you had to sleep with my daughter to convey it properly, right?"

He visibly quailed under her hard stare, before taking a deep breath and straightening his spine.

"Ms Montez, I would never do anything to consciously hurt Gabriella. I didn't plan for…that to happen but I won't regret it, I know she's the girl that I will marry someday."

He looked slightly defiant, daring her to contradict his declaration about the seriousness of the relationship. Not that he needed to, Carmen knew full well how serious it was, having watched her daughter fall even deeper in love each passing moment they had been in Albuquerque.

"I believe you," she said finally, "And I'm not going to demand you stay away from her or anything similar. Gabriella may be my baby girl but she's old enough now to make her own decisions and I will respect them."

Troy minutely relaxed, his stance becoming less weary with her words.

"I only have two questions," she continued, leaning forward over the counter intently.

"One. Do you love my daughter?"

He didn't even hesitate.

"Yes, with all my heart."

"Good, because I'm trusting you to take care of her. If you hurt her, I will beat you to death with a shovel," she said menacingly, having to hide a laugh as Troy visibly gulped and nodded firmly.

"And two," she paused, head cocked speculatively, "Did you really drive all the way here in that heap of junk parked out front?"

Troy blinked, before grinning and throwing his hands up in the air in surrender.

"I give up. Why does everyone pick on my truck?"

"Because it breaks down more often than it works?"

Carmen's head swivelled to see her daughter standing in the doorway, still drowning in one of Troy's shirts. Though she had a smile on her face at her boyfriend's exasperation, Carmen could see that she was nervous and wondered how much of their conversation she had heard.

"Morning," Troy said softly and Carmen could see that expression of loving awe take up residence on his features again.

"Morning," Gabriella returned shyly, her eyes glued to his and Carmen began to feel like an intruder.

Clearing her throat, she waited patiently till they managed to break their gaze to look her way, Troy speaking before she had a chance to.

"Is it alright if I use your shower Ms Montez?"

Smiling at the fact that he was obviously trying to give her some alone time with her daughter, she nodded in acquiescence.

"There are fresh towels in the linen closet in the hall."

He grinned in thanks, disappearing up the stairs but not before pressing a soft kiss to Gabriella's cheek. Her daughter had a slightly dazed grin on her face as she sat down on one of the kitchen stools before she turned serious as she looked up at Carmen.

"Mom…"

"How much did you hear?"

Gabriella bit her lip, "Most of it. Did you really mean it when you said you would respect my decisions?"

Carmen sighed, taking a sip of her now cooling coffee.

"Yes. Though finding my baby girl curled up practically naked in bed with her boyfriend might not have been a scenario I had ever wanted to face, I can't deny that he loves you, or that you love him."

"I do," Gabriella interrupted, "So much so that I can't imagine life without him."

"I know," she replied, before asking the one question that had been at the forefront of her thoughts, "Gabi, I know that you probably don't want to talk about this, but were you and Troy…careful?"

Her daughter flushed, eyes dropping to stare at the counter.

"Yes," she mumbled and Carmen felt a wave of relief. She trusted her daughter to do the sensible thing but that didn't mean that she didn't know how easy it was to get swept up in the moment.

"And was it…Are you ok?"

Gabriella stayed silent for a moment before she lifted her head, happiness sparkling in her brandy-coloured eyes, so similar to her father's.

"It was perfect Mom."

Carmen couldn't help the tears that welled up in her eyes in the face of her daughter's glowing expression, and she held her arms out in invitation, wrapping them around Gabriella's petite form as she hugged her tight.

"I love you Mom."

"I love you too mija," she whispered, holding on tight even as she let her go.


	5. Road Trip

**Title: **Between The Lines

**Summary: **If life is but a musical, you have to read between the lines. A series of HSM3 missing moments, written for the ZA Angels Write-Off Challenge: Ellie's Theme

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** If I owned High School Musical, I wouldn't have set the Australian release date _six whole weeks_ after the US release date…*cries at the unfairness of it all*

**A/N: **And we here we, at part 3 of Troy and Gabi's Stanford Adventure! This moment includes my BTL-verse explanations for Gabriella's mother inexplicably being in the crowd at the show and why Gabriella looked surprised when Troy announced his college choice when in my fic, she already knows. It's slightly different to the previous moments as it's really just a chronological selection of snippets from their drive. On an accuracy note, according to Google Maps it takes approx 16 hours to drive non-stop between Stanford and Albuquerque…and the fact I went and looked that up just totally proves my inner geek, but my friends have told me they love me anyway.

**Dedication:** For _EllaKnight22, _who correctly identified the Buffy line "If you hurt her, I will beat you to death with a shovel" and its original speaker (Willow, in the season 4 episode _The Initiative _for those of you playing at home) from the last chapter.

* * *

_Road Trip_

* * *

_**6:00pm Friday**_

"Are you sure you want to do this mija?"

"Yes Mom, I'm sure. Troy can't very well leave his truck here."

"But wouldn't it be easier if you flew in with me? I'm sure we could get someone to transport his truck back to Albuquerque."

Troy could see Gabriella sigh, fiddling with the ends of her jacket as she stood on the driveway. He was supposed to be doing one last check of the engine before they hit the road but found it impossible to keep from eavesdropping on his girlfriend's farewell conversation with her mother. He couldn't really blame Ms Montez for being cautious, even he was able to admit (if only to himself) that his truck was not the most reliable vehicle on the road. And its not like she didn't have a point, it would be a lot easier for him and Gabriella to fly back with her (she'd insisted that she wasn't going to miss her baby girl's last high school performance, immediately booking a flight for the following morning) but to be truthful, he was more than looking forward to the time alone with his girlfriend, they had not had much of a chance to talk after last night.

"This afternoon you were fine with us driving back, what changed?" Gabriella sounded frustrated and Troy resisted the urge to go over there and hug her.

"Nothing. I just think it would be safer…" Ms Montez trailed off, eyes sliding towards Troy for a moment as if silently apologising for insulting his ability to keep Gabriella safe. He just nodded, showing her that we wasn't upset by her inference. After she'd reacted so mildly to finding him practically naked in her daughter's bed (when he'd first realised she'd caught them, his mind had flown through every bad scenario, eventually becoming convinced that he'd be singing soprano in the very near future), the least he could do was let her air her worries.

"We'll be fine Mom, I promise. His truck's not that bad, really. We'll see you back in Albuquerque," Gabriella promised, reaching up to kiss her mother goodbye on the cheek as Troy closed the bonnet of the truck and slid into the driver's seat, "I love you."

"I love you too," Ms Montez replied as Gabriella hopped into the passenger seat, shooting Troy a smile as he fiddled around with the barely working radio. He returned it, then watched as Gabriella rolled down the window to speak to her mom one last time.

"Have a safe trip," Ms Montez called, then smirked, "And try to limit the amount of make-out stops along the way, or you'll never get back in time."

Both Troy and Gabriella flushed red, eyes momentarily meeting then sliding away sheepishly. With a final wave goodbye, Troy turned the ignition and the truck roared to life beneath them, the engine purring loudly as they pulled away from the kerb.

Albuquerque, here they come.

_**8:07pm Friday**_

Troy wasn't used to the silence. Though he and Gabriella could quite happily spend time together without the need for words, the uncomfortable lack of conversation that had marked the first two hours of their trip was unusual. Sure, they'd started off ok, chatting superficially about the length of the trip (Troy was predicting 19 hours, including petrol and rest stops and excluding any unforeseen breakdowns) but that has soon trailed off, leaving just the rattle of the engine and low static of the ancient radio to fill the cab. He knew why too…while last night had been the poster child for often-used cliché 'night of his life', it had taken their relationship one step further and neither of them had so far had a chance to take a deep breath and let that sink in. Deciding that enough was enough, he gathered his thoughts and blurted out her name.

"Gabri…"

"Troy…"

They broke off immediately, staring at each other out the corners of their eyes before dissolving into laughter at the fact that they had apparently had the same idea at the same time.

"I though couples weren't supposed to start thinking like one another till they'd been married for ten years," Gabriella giggled, the brilliant smile on her face making Troy's heart skip a beat.

"We're over-achievers," he replied slyly, happy that the tense atmosphere had been broken so thoroughly.

"Like the AP students of relationships?" she asked teasingly.

"Exactly."

Silence fell again for the moment, but this time it was anticipatory.

"I meant what I said," Gabriella spoke first, gaze fixed out the window at the sparse landscape rushing by as they flew down the I-5 S, "I don't regret it…not even with the slightly humiliating circumstances of this morning."

"Neither do I," Troy replied automatically, before a faint blush suffused his cheeks, "I'm glad that I waited for it to be you."

Gabriella didn't immediately reply verbally, instead reaching her hand across to intertwine with his, then moving back to rest the joined appendages on her knee.

"So if we're both happy that it happened, why have we been sitting here like two strangers?" she asked with a small smile, rubbing her thumb over his knuckles in a way that was delightfully distracting.

"Don't look at me, I used up my relationship savvy insights quota for the year in deciding to drive cross-country to come get you."

_**10:33pm Friday**_

"Gabriella?"

"Hmmm?"

"How good are you at acting surprised?"

She cracked open one eyelid, her form hunched so her head could rest against the back of the seat. Night had fallen properly now, any signs of civilisation now restricted to the small towns springing up occasionally off to the side of the highway.

"Why do you want to know Wildcat?" she asked suspiciously and Troy made sure to keep his gaze straight ahead.

"Because I want to regain my 'Most Romantic Boyfriend' mantle from Chad and I figure the best way to do that is during the end of the show when we're supposed to reveal our college choices. I'll say Berkeley, you look surprised and I'll have the entire crowd eating out of the palm of my hand."

"You've put way too much thought into this," she said flatly, though there was a definite smile tugging at her lips.

"But you'll do it?" he asked, looking away from the road long enough to shoot her the puppy dog eyes.

"One condition."

"You say that a lot," he pouted with mock annoyance, but nodded at her to keep going, something he promptly regretted as her words made him accidentally swerve violently in shock.

"You, me and sex on the rooftop after the show," she stated straightforwardly, only a hint of a blush evident on her cheeks at her unusually forthright demand.

"Gabriella Montez! What happened to my shy, retiring girlfriend?"

"She got laid."

_**12:13am Saturday**_

"You know how life can be, it changes overnight," Troy sang softly under his breath, careful not to wake the sleeping girl at his side. After a half an hour stop in Bakersfield to stock up on caffeine and stretch their legs, they'd set off along the 58 which wound through the rocky landscape of the tail end of the Sierras before heading into the Mojave. Gabriella had fallen asleep mere minutes after leaving Bakersfield, despite his protests that she was subjecting him to a lonely night-time drive. Though Troy had to admit that he had felt a rather smug sense of male pride when she claimed it was his own fault she was tired given that he'd worn her out the night before.

"Troy…"

He jerked his head around at the soft whisper, afraid that he'd inadvertently woken her but her eyes were still firmly shut, her head lolling towards him. She looked so beautiful asleep, her caramel skin smooth, her lips parted slightly, her hair falling to frame her features. He supposed it was a testament to how much he was in love with her that a part of him wanted nothing more than to stop the truck so he could sit and watch her sleep for a few moments.

He turned his attention back to the road, but not before he saw her shift uncomfortably, the shortness of the seatback meaning that her head wasn't resting on anything, instead cocked to the side at an awkward looking angle. Briefly checking his rear-view mirror for any traffic (though he wasn't sure why he bothered, the road had been as quiet as a tomb for over an hour), he pulled to a momentary stop.

Gently grasping her shoulders, he shifted her across in the seat so that her body was leaning against him, her head coming to rest against the hollow of his neck. He took a moment to brush her hair away from her face, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead.

"Sweet dreams Gabriella," he whispered, then satisfied that she was now in a comfortable position, released the parking brake and once more accelerated off down the darkened highway.

_**3:41am Saturday**_

"Gabriella," Troy said softly, gently shaking his sleeping girlfriend's shoulder even as she moaned and tried to turn away from the disturbance.

"Five more minutes Mom," she mumbled, swatting at his hand.

Biting his lip, a sneaky grin crossed Troy's face. If there was one thing that would wake her up in a flash it would be…

"If you don't wake up now, Ms Montez, that will be detention for a month," he barked sharply in a perfect imitation of Ms Darbus' most aggrieved tone, the one reserved for Jason or Chad's latest misadventure.

"Huh?! I'm awake, I'm awake!" Gabriella squeaked as her eyes flew open, darting around obviously expecting a classroom full of students and a looming drama teacher. When she realised she instead had a cab of a truck and a smirking boyfriend, she slapped him on the arm.

"That wasn't funny Wildcat," she pouted, looking so irresistibly cute that Troy couldn't stop himself from leaning over to capture her lips in a soft kiss, which quickly escalated till they pulled back out of breath.

"Am I forgiven?" he whispered, pressing a kiss to the tip of her nose.

"Maybe," she said coyly, but claimed his lips again, this time wrapping her arms around his neck, body angled awkwardly in her seat.

Just as Troy was thinking about the possibility of having their second time in his truck ala the well-known American teenage tradition, Gabriella pulled back with a jerk, eyes looking curiously out into the still pitch-black night.

"Hang on a minute, why have we stopped? What time is it?"

She pulled her phone out of the bag by her feet before Troy could reply, eyes widening as she read the display.

"3:41am?" she gasped, before turning back to him with narrowing eyes, "Troy…"

He smiled weakly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Before I say anything, you love me right? No matter what?"

He turned on his most charming smile, though it was somewhat lost in translation given the dim glow provided only by the small overhead light.

Gabriella merely crossed her arms, looking remarkably like his Mom after he'd broken her grandmother's antique vase with an errant basketball after she specifically told him not to play with it in the house.

"We broke down, didn't we?"

"We broke down," he confirmed, cringing at the look on her face.

"And the nearest town is?" she prompted.

"Um, a 45 min drive away," he rushed out, "But called the AAA just before I woke you up and they're going to send out their closest representative mechanic who should be here in an hour or so."

He fell silent, lowering his eyes to his lap to await her reaction. When no response was forthcoming, he braved looking back up to see her biting her lips, eyes twinkling with mirth.

"Well, we'll just have to find something to do to pass the time then," she grinned.

"You're not upset," he commented cautiously.

"Troy, I'd have been more surprised if we'd made it to Albuquerque _without_ breaking down," she explained patiently.

Without warning, she manoeuvred from her side of the vehicle and onto his lap, squeezing in between his chest and the steering wheel.

"Of course, you could always think of a way to make it up to me," she said softly, running her hand through his hair before she leaned forward to brush his lips gently.

Troy had never been so glad for a broken fuel pump in his life.

_**5:02am Saturday**_

Troy sighed, running his hand down the length of Gabriella's back as they huddled lengthways on the black bench seat, his jacket thrown over their forms for extra warmth.

"I never thought I would do this," she whispered, her head pillowed against his chest, "But you Troy Bolton, seem to have a habit of making me throw all of my inhibitions out the window."

"Oh really?" he raised his eyebrow, a satisfied smirk painted onto his lips.

She shifted up so their heads were level.

"Mmm-hmm," she murmured, brushing kisses along his jaw-line, his chin, his cheek, till her lips found his once more. Troy groaned at the sensation, just about to slip his hands up along her bare stomach when a loud knock came from the passenger side window.

"Hey, you the people who called for a mechanic?"

Troy's head shot up so fast that he collided with Gabriella, a dull thwack echoing as his forehead met her chin.

A curse escaped both their lips, Gabriella quickly shuffling over and pulling his jacket around her tight as Troy wound down the window for the gap-toothed, grinning mechanic.

"Uh yeah," he stuttered, drawing in a breath to ease his embarrassment, "The fuel pump's broken."

"Easy fixed, we'll have you kids outta here in a jiffy," the mechanic promised, his eyes lingering on Gabriella a little too long for Troy's liking, "Though from the looks of it, you wouldn't mind being stuck here a while longer, huh?"

The leer on his face left no doubt as to his meaning and Troy shifted to block Gabriella from his view, despite the fact that she'd already somehow managed to return her top to its rightful position.

"That's none of your business," he said shortly, turning his best glare on full blast, "Now can you please just fix the problem so we can leave?"

The mechanic held his hands up in surrender, "Woah now, I was just kidding around there son, I'll get right on it."

"Thank you," Troy replied shortly, rolling the window up in the mechanic's face.

"Troy! That was rude," she hissed.

"He was staring at you," he replied matter-of-factly, blood boiling at the thought of anyone seeing his girlfriend in any state of undress except for him. As the mechanic got to work and Troy could hear clunks coming from the engine, he suddenly became aware that Gabriella was watching him out of the corner of her eye, biting her lip in an attempt to stifle giggles.

"What?" he asked non-plussed.

"Nothing," she grinned, "I was just thinking that with our current track record, people are still going to be interrupting our intimate moments when they're nothing more than simply holding hands in a retirement home."

He knew that the thought of being old and grey shouldn't make his heart sing as it did but he couldn't help it, the thought of still being with Gabriella fifty years from now was delightfully pleasant to think about.

"Don't worry, I have a plan," he replied, tugging her next to him again.

"Which is?"

"Become a billionaire so we can retire to a little tiny island in the middle of the Pacific," he paused for a second, "Oh, and to chain Chad to a rock somewhere, because knowing him, he'd find a way to interrupt us even if we moved to Antarctica."

_**9:34am Saturday**_

"Thanks for all your help," Gabriella said politely, elbowing Troy discreetly in warning.

"Yeah, thanks," he mumbled, still eyeing the mechanic with distrust.

After fiddling around under the bonnet for half an hour, the mechanic (his name was Larry, but Troy refused to call him that) declared that he couldn't fix the problem with the tools he had on hand, and had preceded to tow them all the way back to his workshop in Flagstaff. Three hours later, Troy finally had his truck back but had spent that intervening time fretting and worrying over it like it was child, much to Gabriella's amusement. He didn't see anything wrong with having wanted to hang around the workshop since who knows what kind of dodgy practices the guy could have carried out, but Gabriella had put her foot down and made him take her to eat a proper breakfast at a nearby diner.

"You just be careful now, that pump's new but with the state of that engine, it could get destroyed real quick."

"My engine's fine," he muttered under his breath, earning himself another elbow from Gabriella, who thanked the mechanic again before they headed across the end of the garage where the truck stood idle.

Climbing into the cab, Troy wasted no time in wrapping his arms around the steering wheel.

"Should I be jealous?" Gabriella asked teasingly as she slid into the passenger seat, "I didn't know I had competition for your affections…maybe I should take care of my rival by slashing her tires."

"Don't listen to her baby, she's just kidding," Troy murmured as he stroked the dash, this time earning him a roll of the eyes from his girlfriend.

"Just drive Wildcat."

_**11:22am Saturday**_

"Troy?"

"Yes?"

"We're going to make this work right?

The quiet question was laced with uncertainty and Troy risked looking away from the road to gauge Gabriella's expression. She was looking down at her lap, turning her cell over and over again in her hands.

"Make what work?" he asked softly, fairly sure he knew what she was talking about but needing to be sure.

"Us, college, the future, everything. Berkeley may only be 32.7 miles from Stanford but with how busy will be I'll doubt we'll be able to see each other except on weekends and we might drift apart and you'll end up married to some leggy blonde with a name that sounds like she should be in a cartoon."

Troy blinked at the sudden outburst, trying to make sense of her rambling fears. He didn't know where all this uncertainty was coming from but he wasn't going to let Gabriella wallow in it when it was so far from what he could see their future being.

"Gabriella, that's not going to happen, not ever. Firstly, I love you. Secondly, hasn't the past few days proved that I am never going to let you go, not without a fight. And thirdly, I've had enough contact with strangely-named blondes at East High to last me through several lifetimes, so the thought of marrying one is quite a frightening prospect and not at all appealing."

He reached over and grabbed her hand, bringing it to his lips to place a gentle kiss against the smooth skin.

"This? Us? It's forever Gabi, if you'll let it be."

She looked at him wordlessly for a moment, before leaning across to kiss his cheek

"Thank you," she replied softly.

_**2:13pm Saturday**_

"Home, sweet Home," Troy declared as they finally pulled into the driveway of his house over 20 hours, one breakdown and one fantastic session of car sex after they'd left Stanford.

"I can't wait to stretch my legs," Gabriella yawned, but made no move to open the door.

Troy could understand the reluctance. It was like the truck had become their own private bubble and if they left its confines they'd have to deal with the real world again.

"What time is the show again?"

"It starts at 6pm."

Silence stretched between them for a moment, before,

"No-one knows we're back yet, right?" Gabriella asked, biting her lip.

"Right," Troy echoed, wondering where she was going with this, "I told my parents I would ring them when we got back, since they're at the school all day helping to set up."

"So…" Gabriella started slowly, "Let's say we hypothetically don't tell them just yet. And that hypothetically, I have an open invitation to stay at Taylor's parent's holiday cabin down in Valencia whenever I want. Then conceivably, we could drive down there and spend some more time alone together then drive back for the show, all the while letting people think that it took us a little longer to get back here than we thought."

A slow smile spread across Troy's lips, as he reignited the engine and threw the gearshift into reverse.

"I knew there was a reason I drove cross-country for you."


	6. Telephone Trouble

**Title: **Between The Lines

**Summary: **If life is but a musical, you have to read between the lines. A series of HSM3 missing moments, written for the ZA Angels Write-Off Challenge: Ellie's Theme

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** If I owned High School Musical, I wouldn't have set the Australian release date _six whole weeks_ after the US release date…*cries at the unfairness of it all*

**A/N: **Sorry for the delay everyone, work's been kinda crazy lately! But after finally getting to see the movie on the big screen yesterday, my muse has piped up so here's another (short and sweet) missing moment, one of Troy and Gabriella's phone calls during those two weeks apart. Please read, review and enjoy!

* * *

_Telephone Trouble_

* * *

Gabriella threw the pen down in disgust, dropping her head against the paper with a groan. Opening one eye, she glanced down at what she had just written again in the hopes that it had only been her imagination but no such luck. She really didn't think Professor Whitaker would be pleased if she handed in her very first essay at Stanford with every second word being some variation of her boyfriend's name, no matter how nice the Professor seemed to be.

Rolling onto her back with a huff of frustration, she threw her hand over her eyes. She'd been here only a few days and already she missed Troy with an ache so deep she could feel it in her bones. During the day she managed to distract herself with classes and meeting new people but at night, curled up in the unfamiliar bedroom, her thoughts inevitably turned to her blue-eyed Wildcat. She missed everything about him; the way he'd always open doors for her, the way he'd wrap her in an embrace that she never wanted to leave and that little smile and twinkle in his eye reserved for her and her alone. A part of her was afraid of how much she missed him and she refused to think about what was coming, about their inevitable oncoming more permanent separation.

Glancing over at the clock on the bedside table, she saw her cell sitting innocuously on the dark wood and a sudden urge overtook her. She needed to hear his voice, she needed him to tell her that everything was going to be okay, she needed him to make her laugh and forget about the slowly growing misery creeping into her soul.

Gabriella grabbed the phone before she could convince herself otherwise, pulling up his number and pressing the call button with slightly shaking hands. She didn't know why she was so nervous but couldn't help holding her breath till the ringing stopped and his voice came over the line.

"Chad, for the tenth time, I'm not playing hoops with you tonight! I'd like to actually pass my finals on the first attempt."

Blinking at the outburst, Gabriella tried in vein to hold in a giggle, her anxiety already washing away.

"Hmmm, I'm sorry, I must have the wrong number. I could have sworn I called my homework-hating boyfriend not his apparently study-obsessed twin."

"Gabriella!" Troy exclaimed in surprise and she heard the shuffling of papers in the background, "Sorry, I thought you were Chad," he continued sheepishly.

"I heard, though I don't know whether I should feel insulted that you couldn't tell our pictures apart on your cell screen," she teased, shifting to find a more comfortable spot on her bed.

"Well you know, you both have curly dark hair and pretty eyes, so it's an easy mistake to make," Troy shot back and she could hear the smile in his voice before he changed the subject, "Oh, speaking of studying, you wouldn't happen to know the square root of Pi to five decimal places off the top of your head now would you?"

She shook her head, and let disapproval colour her tone, "How are you going to pass if I give you the answers Wildcat?"

He heaved a big fake sigh and she felt another giggle well up.

"Fine, fine, I'll just muddle through myself. But if I fail my math final by one mark, it's all your fault," he paused, then asked softly, "So tell me Miss Montez, how are you enjoying the California sunshine?"

_I hate it, I want to be back in Albuquerque with you._

"If I'd had the time to bask in it, I could tell you but I don't think I've had a spare second since the minute we arrived."

Even with the slightly evasive answer she knew she hadn't been able to keep her voice steady and she wasn't even exaggerating either. In between settling into the new house and classes, her life felt like it was stuck on permanent fast-forward mode.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly, all humour gone from his voice as he picked up on her obvious unhappiness to her chagrin. She wasn't going to worry him by admitting how hard she was finding it and instead scrambled for an answer which would both appease and distract him.

"I'm fine Troy, just feeling a little…dumb, I guess. Everyone here is so intelligent and I feel a little out of my league."

"Hey," he protested, "You're the smartest girl I know, way smarter than you ever give yourself credit for. I bet half of the other honours students are in awe of you but just won't admit."

Gabriella's heart melted at his faith in her even as she felt slightly guilty for not being entirely truthful.

"You think?" she questioned softly.

"I don't think, I know," he said firmly, "And if anyone there makes you feel any different, I'll get Jason to bombard them with crank calls all night so they're sleep-deprived and unable to function properly."

His words had their desired effect and Gabriella found herself muffling laughter into her pillow so she wouldn't disturb her mom.

"Oh Wildcat, what am I going to do with you?" she exhaled when her giggles died down.

"Tell me I'm the thing you miss most about East High so I know I'm still loved?" he suggested teasingly and Gabriella drew in a breath at the word they still hadn't sound the courage to say to another in a romantic context. Pushing down the sudden sadness, she kept her voice steady.

"I could, but I'd be lying."

"Gabriella!" he cried out indignantly, "You mean to tell me you miss something else more than your handsome, witty boyfriend?"

"Yep," she replied with a grin, pausing dramatically, "The tuna surprise."

There was silence on the other end of the line before Troy whispered with fake incredulity, "You miss a fishy meal more than me? That hurts Gabi, it really does."

She could just imagine him holding a hand over his heart with the words and she fought to keep down her giggles once again.

"I'm sorry Troy, but if you had to eat the food in the cafeteria here, you'd understand. It's so bad I don't think even Chad at his hungriest would go near it."

Just thinking about the gloopy mess she'd had for lunch that day was making her stomach churn in remembrance.

"Well in that case, I forgive you. You'll just have to cling onto the thought of the feast we're going to have at Prom to get by."

Gabriella's stomach stopped churning but instead dropped to her toes. Prom had been something she'd been looking forward too ever since Troy had asked her on the roof, yet lately the thought of going back to East High for a few days and then having to say goodbye again had filled her with dread. Leaving Albuquerque, leaving _Troy_, the first time had been torture. To do it again might be more than she could handle.

"Gabriella? You are still coming back for Prom…right?"

The vulnerability in her boyfriend's tone made her heart ache and she knew in that moment that she couldn't let him know her doubts. It would be fine, it was another week or so away yet and by then she'd be able to handle it, she would.

"Of course I am," she reassured him softly, "I wouldn't miss the chance to see the mighty Troy Bolton waltzing around the gym."

"Good," he replied and she could hear the slight sense of relief in his tone, feeling awful for making him worry when she'd resolved not to.

"Hey Gabi? I'd love to keep talking, but I really do need to study. Can't have my genius girlfriend saddled with an idiot right?"

Disappointment flowed through her, but she knew if Troy was actually volunteering to study that it meant he really needed to.

"No, can't have that," she echoed.

"I'll call you tomorrow night, is that okay?" he asked.

"It's perfect," she assured him and was suddenly hit with the urge to say something, to tell him just how much she had come to realise she needed him.

"Troy, I…"

"Yes?"

"I…it's 1.77245. The square root of Pi is 1.77245."

"Thank you," he chuckled and with a goodbye, Gabriella was left with a dial tone and unspoken words.

_I miss you. I need you. I love you._


End file.
